Mineral County Jail to Reopen in February, Delayed by Bad Paint

The Mineral County jail has been closed since last November when staffing levels declined to just two jailers and even the Sheriff turned in his badge and quit. Mineral County Commissioner Roman Zylawy says the past month without a jail hasn’t been as bad as you might imagine, but there have been some headaches.

"Nothing major, the biggest thing would be, I guess, that was that the Highway Patrol was active out here and they got like four felony drug busts off of I-90 and it was a little inconvenient for them because the felony drug runners had to be transported up to Sanders County and, of course, then transported back down here for appearances... so the biggest headache I heard of was with those four felony arrests."

In the meantime, officials took the liberty to do some detention center re-decorating.

"That jail, of course, has been in operation since 1994 and I don't think it's ever been totally vacated for a thorough cleaning. They did make some modifications: there were some things that a jail inspector thought... a hook here or a hangert here should be rounded-off or removed down for safety reasons. Then the whole day-cell and the units were painted. "

Zylawy says a bad batch of paint is part of the reason the jail reopening will be delayed until next month, he also says one more jailer needs to be hired.